TEAR Fund congratulates the team at All Good for the successful import of the first shipment of Fairtrade bananas into Aotearoa (NZ)! We know it has been a long journey full of hard work. We are completely behind this effort and wish it much success!
Watch out for New Zealand’s First Fairtrade Bananas!
It’s really happening, thanks to the many Kiwis who [...]

The issuing of visas which prevent NGOs from working among Palestinians has been condemned by TEAR Fund NZ.
TEAR Fund Executive director Stephen Tollestrup said issuing NGOS with tourist visas which prevent them working was another element in Israel’s `Matrix of Control’ to frustrate and intimidate the Palestinian population and their NGO advocates.

Arriving in Samoa was like a Déjà vu experience for Kiwi aid worker Ian McInnes, who was involved in relief operations following the Asian Tsunami. “Seeing the devastation and hearing the stories of loss and miraculous escapes brought it all back to me,” he said.
Mr McInnes is a TEAR Fund programmes officer and he has just returned from Samoa assessing [...]

As food aid falls to the lowest levels in 20 years and malnourishment rates climb dramatically, Kiwis are being urged to consider the plight of children and the vulnerable in developing nations this World Food Day (October 16).
TEAR Fund NZ acting executive director Jon Horne said, “There’s no doubt that Kiwis have been affected by the global credit crunch and [...]

TEAR Fund is urging Kiwis to take a positive step in helping to eradicate poverty, to mark International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17).
The observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty can be traced back to October 17, 1987, when more than a hundred thousand people gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris, where the Universal [...]

New Zealand’s aid budget, while not above scrutiny, should not become an easy target for government tinkering, said TEAR Fund executive director Stephen Tollestrup.
Mr Tollestrup was reacting to comments made by Foreign Minister Murray McCully that New Zealand’s aid budget payments were creating a culture of `hand outs’. The minister also suggested that the goal of poverty elimination was too [...]

New Zealand audiences will be the first outside of Africa to experience the joyful and rhythmic sounds of the talented East African gospel group; The Sowers.
The Sowers will play three free concerts highlighting child poverty on behalf of aid agency TEAR Fund. The opening concert will be in Auckland on March 5, followed by concerts in Tauranga and Hamilton on [...]

Yesterday, Ten teenagers set out from four different locations in the North Island for an outdoor adventure that will not only test their mettle, it promises to literally be a `traffick stopper’.
To celebrate 25 years of providing life-changing experiences for young people, Adventure Specialties Trust has invited 40 teenagers to undertake the Sea2summit Four Corners Journey. At the same time, [...]

Kiwi photographer Susanna Burton tells about heartbreak and hope among a group of rubbish collectors in Bali and how a group of New Zealand business women are giving them the chance of a better future.
I am jolted from sleep at an hour that seems far too early for any sane westerner. Staring double-visioned at the clock, I make out [...]

THIS World AIDS Day (December 1), TEAR Fund has joined the Alive Campaign, a global initiative to urge the New Zealand Government and those that signed the Millennium Development goals, to put more resources into making antiretroviral (ARV) drugs more available in developing nations.

WITH the meltdown of international banking and credit filling investors with dread, developed nations are using the crisis to legitimise backing away from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said TEAR Fund Executive Director Stephen Tollestrup.
The MDGs signed by 189 nations promised to halve poverty for the poorest of our planet’s people by 2015 and increase aid to 0.7 per cent [...]

TEAR Fund is committing $80,000 to bring relief to the displaced millions following the worst flooding in 50 years, in India’s state of Bihar.
TEAR Fund’s partner in India, the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR) is experienced in disaster relief, having responded to most of the worst disasters to hit India over the past three decades. A team [...]

Vibrant costumes, infectious smiles and stories that will move and inspire you – the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda will visit Auckland and it is an event not to miss.
The 18 boys and girls in the choir, all aged between seven and 13, are orphans and are being raised through the Watoto project in Uganda. However, this is not a [...]

Fiji along with 9 other countries has been selected for a United Nations pilot project on Violence Against Women. Participants from government, civil society, including faith based organizations, the UN and AusAid are at a three day workshop, which is in the final day today, to deliberate on a report on Fiji with regard to this issue; and the way [...]

This just received from Brooks Addicott at the Sundance Institute:
Global Stories Resonate With International Talent
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program announced 16 film projects to receive financial and creative support from the Sundance Documentary Fund. Out of 325 applications working in more than 52 countries, the 16 feature-length documentary films selected will receive a total of $512,500 in support for [...]

Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 9:36 pm
Press Release: Israel Government
Prime Minister’s Office
Syria And Israel Have Started Indirect Peace Talks
Syria and Israel have started indirect peace talks, under the auspices of Turkey.
The two sides stated their intention to conduct these talks in good faith and with an open mind. They decided to pursue the dialogue between them in a serious and [...]